Thoughts of an Executive Producer
by Lyricals
Summary: Literati&JavaJunkie. Season 7 Next time you bring a boy over at least inform me of it beforehand. That way I’m not woken up by the bumps and thumps of you two running into things...
1. Meld

**Disclaimer: **I don't own.

**A/N: **Takes place during/after 7.09 and goes from there. Changes start happening in that episode. Only difference is that Lorelai knows Jess helped Rory in 6.08.

**Thoughts of an Executive Producer**

**Chapter One:  
**Meld

The duffle bag was set down on the floor with a rather loud thump; most likely due to the accumulation of novels that was nestled inside. He had to something to pass the time away while he was here. Reading seemed a better option than many. Although he began to second guess himself as the sound brought on the attention from every one of the diner patrons.

--- Three Days Ago:

The phone rang, disturbing him from that pleasant dream that came with his slumber. Yawning, he looked over at the clock: 9:56 P.M. He could just ignore the call and drift back to sleep…yeah that sounded nice.

The answering machine clicked as he closed his eyes, his voice replaying itself through the machine.

"Hey. This is Jess. There's about a fifty percent chance that I'll call you back if you leave a message. So you might as well try after the beep."

He made a mental note to change the recording tomorrow morning. It was annoying as hell. His thoughts drifted to what he would say, maybe a simple: You have reached Jess Mariano, leave your name and num—his thought halted as a familiar voice came after a shrill beeping sound.

"Uh, hey Jess, sorry to bother you so late. You're probably sleeping and in that case I'm sorry for disturbing you. Hell, I don't even know why I'm calling you of all people, usually I would have just called Lorelai but--; anyway I just needed to talk to someone. Anna—that's April's mom—is planning on moving to New Mexico and she's taking April with her. I'm going to try for custody; my lawyer says I'll probably lose—"

Jess groggily stood up, removing his bed covers from off of him and dropping them haphazardly on the floor. Stumbling towards the phone he picked up.

"Luke?" His voice sounded raspy, a side-effect to just waking up.

"Jess?" Luke sounded surprised that he actually answered.

"Yeah." Confirmation that they were actually going to have a conversation since the first time since the Open House at Truncheon, the first time in over half a year.

"Oh, sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry about it. What's this about trying for custody?" Jess' voice showed genuine concern for his uncle.

"I'm trying to get custody of April."

"Gee, thanks, I got that." He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, well um, Anna's mom is sick and she wants to move to New Mexico so she can help take care of her. I was fine with at first, tried to tell her some sort of arrangement with holidays so I could see April. She didn't agree, so now I'm trying to—"

"Why aren't you discussing this with Lorelai?" Jess interrupted casually.

"Oh, um, she's married."

"Yeah. You guys got married in June." He rolled his eyes wondering why he had to explain this. "Sorry I didn't make the wedding…I was doing something for work."

"We didn't get married in June."

"What?"

"We broke up."

"No way! Why?" Surprise was acknowledged on Jess' features. How could two people who were that in love just break up?

"It's complicated."

"Right." His voice was laced with disbelief.

There was silence for minutes. Each one had no idea what to say next, it wasn't anything new.

Jess was the first to speak again. "I have an early day tomorrow, so I should probably go."

"Right, so thanks for listening."

"No problem. Bye."

"Bye."

With that, Jess put the receiver down and drifted back towards his bed. He couldn't fall back asleep. He kept thinking he had to go back. Luke was in trouble and as family, Jess felt the obligation to go help him. If there was one thing he learned from the two years he lived with Luke it was that you help family.

--- Present Time:

It would be tough to understand why they did it. Their whole relationship was weird; it seemed forced; only melded together after what seemed to be the demise of a pair of true soul mates. It was two people's stubbornness mixed with a failure to communicate that spawned this facade of a relationship that they were now flaunting throughout the small town of Stars Hollow--how lucky for Christopher Hayden. He and Lorelai Gilmore were currently walking hand in hand; a gold piece of jewelry situated on her ring finger gleamed in the perfect sunny day. The weather was unrealistic for a Connecticut winter, just like their marriage was unrealistic—period. 

Christopher was an intruder in the town. He was more 'city' than 'town'; he preferred places such as Boston or Los Angeles and to tell you the truth, the townsfolk preferred him in such places. They wanted him out. The town was like a secret club and they wanted nothing more than to place a sign stating 'No Christopher Hayden's allowed' at its entrance. But to their dismay, they couldn't do that; he was now Lorelai's husband and Lorelai was a member of the town. It was like having the fucking 'Golden Ticket'.

The worse part of it all was that Christopher situated himself in the town Luke was raised in; the house that Luke had just fixed up for her; living the life Luke was supposed to be living--as the husband of Lorelai Gilmore. No regards to Luke's feelings--it was like he didn't even exist anymore.

Lorelai and Christopher continued walking. As they had begun to near the newly remodeled store front of Luke's Diner, Lorelai couldn't help but notice that the ribbons were out again. Just like after Luke and her 'time of separation' a year before, the forever haunting pink and blue ribbons made their appearance. But what was truly daunting was the fact that she could not spot a single pink one.

She took a deep breath and sighed rather loudly, getting Christopher's attention as they stopped right in front of the diner's window. "Lor, what's wrong?" He wouldn't understand the significance of the ribbons; he was an outsider after all.

Lorelai was about to reply when Christopher's cell phone began to ring. Looking at the caller I.D. he signaled to excuse himself as he walked towards the center of town. After he departed, Lorelai stood there, trying to look anywhere but inside the diner. After a minute of standing there, she couldn't take it anymore. She turned around only to see Miss Patty and Babette staring straight at her. She smiled softly at them, half-expecting to see Luke gawking at her. Her glance turned to behind the counter where it appeared Luke was taking a phone order, although he was smiling and looked happy.

Looking towards the gazebo, Lorelai saw that Christopher was deep into conversation; his hands were moving back and forth as if he was trying to prove a point although the person on the other end couldn't see his accentuation. Lorelai turned back around and took another deep breath, this time because she was on a mission. Her high heels clicked loudly against the sidewalk as she made her way up the diner steps. Another breath taken as she turned the knob to enter the establishment she had avoided and neglected the past few months. The damned bells announced her entrance, getting Luke's attention. He was still on the phone; a muffled voice could be heard on the other end.

Luke's eyes met hers and he froze for a second. "Sorry Liz, I have to go." There was a pause as the muffled voice said something. "Okay, see you in a bit."

Lorelai was going about to say something, anything just to get the conversation rolling. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, one Jess Mariano strolled down the stairs and through the curtain making an entrance into the now quiet diner.

Lorelai continued to stare at Luke. Normally she would have said something in response to Jess' sudden appearance in Stars Hollow. However, she had no right to do that anymore. After another moment of stares, she spoke. "Hi." Her voice came out awkward. They hadn't spoken to each other since that night April was in the hospital. The night when he noticed the ring on her finger and didn't say anything; the night the remnants of his heart were torn into more pieces than thought possible. The tension was there—and it was ice cold.

"Hey." Luke's eyes darted everywhere, finally landing on a pot of coffee before returning back to her sympathetic gaze. "You want some coffee or something?"

She smiled and sat down on the stool right in front of her. "Yeah, coffee, coffee good." She realized how ridiculous she sounded as she sputtered out words but she couldn't help it, she felt ridiculous.

He placed the large cup in front of her, paying no attention to the fact that every set of eyes in the diner were looking straight for Lorelai and himself. It was deathly quiet. He tried to distract himself by wiping down the counter in front of him. "So...," He began in an attempt to start civilized conversation, "How's Christopher?" Wrong thing to say, definitely wrong; he couldn't help it, it just spilled out.

She turned her head to the side as if she was just mentally slapped. When her eyes met his again she chose to avoid the subject. "So, Jess is here," she turned to look at Jess who seemed to be frozen to spot where he was standing, "hey Jess." 

"Yeah, Liz is gonna pop any day now. I'm here to meet my new baby sister." Jess spilled out quickly, it wasn't entirely a lie.

"Oh, right; I almost forgot. It's good you're here." She had to get out of there, all this talk about Luke's family was getting to her. "Did you tell Rory you were coming, I'm sure she'd like to see you. You did get her back on track; she's really happy to be back at Yale." 

"Yeah, maybe I will." Jess forced a smile. Rory had obviously neglected to tell Lorelai the specifics of what happened in Philadelphia. 

"Good. Good." Lorelai brought her attention back to Luke and followed his glance out the window. There was Christopher looking like a lost puppy wondering where Lorelai was. In the diner, she stood up, not bothering to drink the rest of her coffee. "I have to go."

As she began her departure, Luke didn't say anything. He just turned around and walked in to the kitchen. In the dining room, Miss Patty leaned towards Babette. "Those poor dears are torturing themselves."

They looked outside at Lorelai and Christopher. Lorelai didn't seem herself lately; not at all. "Yeah." Babette simply added to their conversation. It was all that could be said.


	2. Spoken

**Chapter Two  
**Spoken

Rory was laying still on her bed, catching up on her reading. It wasn't something she was doing often as of late. In fact, even with Logan in London or New York or wherever the hell he was, she still found herself partying. Not the 'hardcore' partying complete with drinking until the spell of drunkenness arrived, but still, some form of partying was enacted on some occasions. She had just gotten back from a 2002-themed birthday party that was thrown for Lucy and the night hadn't gone so well. Rory's decisive cure was to go live someone else's life—to read a book. Even that couldn't keep her from her thoughts and being distracted and some alcohol didn't seem like such a bad choice right now.

Her cell phone began to vibrate on the small table next to her bed. That was the nice thing about moving back in with Paris, everything of hers was located in a cramped little room where she could easily reach it instead of in some random area of a penthouse apartment. Rory casually stretched her arm to grab her Sidekick and answered the phone immediately after the caller I.D. read: _Mom_.

"Hey."

"Hey Sweets."

"So, what'd you need?" Rory asked as she sat up on her bed and walked towards the living room.

"What, a mother needs a reason to call her daughter?"

"Well not in most cases, but when you call you usually need something." She sat down on the living room couch.

"Oh, right. Damn my consistency!" Lorelai joked.

Rory let out a chuckle. "So, what's new?"

"I went to Luke's!" Her voice was filled with accomplishment.

"Inside?" Surprise lined her voice.

"Yup."

"Wow. You went inside Luke's. What happened?"

"He offered me coffee."

"How generous of him." A beat. "Was it awkward?"

"Yes. But you'll never guess who was there."

"Who?"

"Guess."

"I don't want to, who?"

"C'mon, guess!"

"Mom, just tell me."

"Fine; Jess."

"Oh." Rory had avoided the subject of Jess since Lane's wedding. Blocked him out of her mind, any thoughts of him led to that night in Philadelphia where she treated him like shit.

"Why do you sound so disappointed? I thought we liked Jess now. He got your cute little ass in gear, remember?"

"Yeah, we like Jess; he did good." Rory tried to sound happier then she felt. Her mind was now replaying that night.

"So why do you sound—"

"No reason." She interrupted too quickly.

"Okay…"

"So why's he here?"

"Liz is having her new baby any time now. He said he wanted to meet his baby sister."

"Oh, right." Rory mentally slapped herself in the head for thinking (even if was just for one second) that maybe he was in town for her. "You mean you actually had a conversation with him?"

"Yes, well it was very awkward talking to Luke."

"Ah, right."

"So when is the next time you'll be coming to the Hollow?"

"Tomorrow, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah, well I was going to go to New York and stay with Logan for the weekend; but we got in a fight during dinner."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you went into Luke's?" Rory tried to make an excuse.

"Hun, you should have told me. Your news is ten times more important than mine! What did you get in a fight about?"

"He told Lucy that Marty and I used to be friends."

"Wow."

"Yup."

"You should have told her."

"I know…I was just trying to find the opportune time. And now I missed it and she's mad at me."

"Tough luck, Kid."

"Yeah; I guess I'll just try to talk to her again when I get back later this weekend. Give her some time."

"Good idea."

Changing the subject, Rory went back to their original one. "So does your going into Luke's today entail breakfast there tomorrow? Because I've seriously missed Luke's cooking."

"I don't see why not. Except we might need to go while your dad's in Hartford; he would want to tag along and that'll be more awkward than I can deal with."

"I guess that would be wise. Where's he now?"

"Oh, he just went to pick up our food from Al's." Lorelai could hear the door unlock right as she said it. "Actually, I think he's here now. I should probably go."

"Okay, tell Dad 'Hi' for me."

"Will do."

--- Luke's Apartment:

"So, thanks for helping me clean up. It's nice having you around to help." Both Luke and Jess had just come upstairs and Luke was rummaging through the refrigerator.

"Yeah, well, don't get too use to it. I'm going to have to go back eventually." Jess took a seat on the brown couch he knew all too well as Luke handed him a cold beer.

"How long are you planning on staying?" He took a sip as he sat down on the opposite side of the sofa.

"Probably a week. A stack of paperwork is most likely waiting for me on my desk right now."

Luke displayed a smirk that could rival his nephew's.

"What?" A smile played at his lips.

"It's just good to hear you're so accomplished."

"I edit. Not exactly my first career choice." He rolled his eyes. _More like the old him._

"Yeah, but you write too."

"Can't do it as often as I'd like." Another sip and the cold liquid was sliding down the back of his throat.

"You're published."

"It's just a small novel."

"I'm proud of you." Jess looked away and Luke quickly picked up on the need for a change of subject. "Where are you staying?"

"I'm staying at the Dragonfly. Lorelai gave me a good dea—Sorry, it was the closest place to crash around here and she offered."

"No, no, it's fine. I just, uh, I mean you could stay here if you want."

"I didn't want to be a burden."

"You wouldn't have been."

"Well, maybe next time. I already paid for the week so I might as well…"

"Yeah, I guess you should. It's a really nice place."

He gave his uncle a sympathetic smile. How could Luke have screwed up something that was going so well? The answer to his internal question came to him sooner than he expected. _It was simple really, it was in the genes._

--- The Next Morning:

"Offspring!"

"Hey Mom." Both Gilmore's wobbled in the door way as they each gave in to a large embrace.

"So are you ready to go?"

"I just got here."

"Well, your Dad left about two hours ago and if we don't get to Luke's quick then he might get back in time to catch us."

"And we wouldn't want that, would we?" A slight sense of sarcasm could be heard on Rory's end.

"Well…"

"You told me Luke told you he was okay with the break up. That one day in the street, remember? He _told _you."

"Sweetie, he probably didn't mean it."

"He still said it."

"Well…"

"You shouldn't have to hide the fact that you've moved on. You're married now. There's no reason to be ashamed."

Lorelai looked her daughter sadly in the eyes before turning her head slightly.

"You have moved on, right?"

There was silence at first, a second or two that seemed much longer. "Yeah. Of course. I'm married."

Rory smiled. "Okay let's go." Turning around, Rory started walking towards the road.

Lorelai waved her hand slowly in front of her, examining the rock on her finger as if she hadn't noticed it there before. "I'm married." She whispered to herself.

---

The opening of the door was, as always, signaled by the chime of the bells. Rory, who was standing behind her mother, gave Lorelai a slight push to get her momentum geared towards the counter where they both took a seat.

Luke emerged from the storage room and smiled as he saw Rory who gave him a slight wave. His head turned to Lorelai who gave him a small smile.

"Hey." He said casually.

"Hi." Lorelai responded.

"So, uh…did you want something?"

"Coffee."

"I'd like some, too." Rory interrupted.

"Okay."

"Could I get some pancakes?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Me too, please."

"Okay." Luke turned around and walked into the kitchen to give Caesar the order.

"Wow." Rory stated, astonished.

"What?"

"You were right."

"About what?"

"Yesterday…when you said it was awkward."

"You thought I was kidding?"

"I thought you might have embellished a bit."

"Me? Embellish? Never!"

Rory laughed as Luke returned with two plates of pancakes as well as the coffee.

"So, Luke, how are you doing?" Rory nonchalantly asked.

"Good." Clearing his throat, he said it more firmly. "Good."

"Good." A beat. "The front of the diner looks nice. I don't think I said that when I was in here a few weeks ago. Did someone help you fix it?"

"I fixed it. Well, T.J. helped."

Rory looked at her mother who had remained quiet during the conversation. She nudged her slightly with her elbow to get her to say something. Finally, "It looks nice."

"Thanks."

"I didn't see it with the big, gigantic hole in it, but Rory told me about it. It looks the same so I'm assuming you did a good job with fixing it." Lorelai rambled, saying the most she had said since they got there.

"Yeah." Luke nodded and walked away with the coffee pot.

_Quiet._

"Mom! It's scone day!" Rory stated out of nowhere.

"No Hun, scone day is on Thursday. It has always been on Thursday. It's Saturday, therefore it's not scone day."

"I see scones." She said matter-of-factly.

"It's probably a mirage. You haven't been here in a while. You just think they're there."

"But I _do_ see them."

"If they are really there, I would just have to turn my head," Lorelai did so, "and there would—Scones!"

"Told you."

Lorelai turned around on her stool, looking for Luke. Once spotting him, she shouted. "Lucas!" Luke jumped slightly as he was pouring coffee in some elderly lady's mug. His sudden movement caused him to spill some of the brew onto the table.

"I'm sorry Ma'am. Let me go get a rag for that." He walked behind the counter and began his search for a rag.

"Luke." Lorelai tried again.

"What?" He was definitely irritated.

"I was wondering if you could get us a couple of scones."

"You haven't touched your pancakes."

"Well, now we want scones."

"Eat your pancakes first."

"No fair." Rory pouted as Lorelai began shoving pancakes in her mouth.

With her jaw full of food, Lorelai attempted speaking. "Can we have the scones now?"

Luke rolled his eyes and walked towards the glass display that was holding the scones. With the tongs, he placed one on both of the Gilmore's plates.

Before they could thank him, Luke placed another in a paper bag and put it in front of the two diner patrons.

"What's that one for?" Rory asked.

"I figured you might want to bring one home for Chris."

Lorelai didn't say anything; her face simply flashed disbelief.

"Thanks Luke, that's very considerate." Rory added, always quick to be polite.

"No problem." He found the rag he was searching for and headed back towards the elderly lady's table to clean up his mess.

Lorelai leaned over towards her daughter and whispered. "Did you hear that?"

"What?" Rory matched Lorelai's tone.

"We just had a conversation. A conversation that wasn't awkward. It wasn't awkward! It was…_normal_."

"But he ruined it when he mentioned Dad on purpose."

"Still…" Lorelai smiled.

Rory was about to say something when she suddenly felt a cool draft. Turning around, she saw the door was opened and there was Jess Mariano was standing at the threshold.

For moments, their eyes seemed like they were glued to one another's. Luke walked in front of Jess and broke their gazes. "Hey Jess."

"Hey Luke."

A pregnant pause. "Did you need something?"

"Yeah, but I'll come back later."

"Okay..."

"Yeah."

"See you later then?"

"Right." Jess turned around and paced himself quickly away from the diner.

--- Later:

The fierce knocking that was suddenly heard at the door could serve as the perfect nuisance for anyone's slumber.

_Ignore it, it'll go away._

A moment goes by with silence as he drifts back to sleep; almost grasping what he is in desperate need of.

There are small bags under his eyes. Nothing that won't go away; that is, if a proper sleeping schedule is attained.

The knocking persists. If the noise created by bare knuckles on wood could make a noise sound desperate, the current sound filling the room would do the trick.

_Ignore it. _

He reaches for the edge of his blanket and pulls it over his head as if the thin piece of fabric could block out the noise.

"Go away." He mumbles, barely audible as his voice is low and muffled by his new barrier.

The knocking stops for another moment and he thinks that maybe the person has gotten the hint. Then again, another instant and it's back again.

"Jess." A familiar voice comes through.

_Damn it, why did it have to be her?_

"Go away." He says it louder now, not really wanting her to. He has every right to be mad at her and she knows it.

"Jess, please open the door."

He inhales deeply and sighs, letting a deep breath out. Throwing the hotel comforter on to the floor, he rises. Briefly pausing as he sits on the edge, attempting to clear the grogginess from his system.

He's aware of how tired he looks. He's tired of it all; tired of this game of they are playing. _They_—not like there was such a thing as them anymore.

"Please." She attempts again, unaware that he's made an effort to get to the door.

He takes another deep breath as he stands up and walks towards the door.

As she hears the dead bolt click, she smiles softly. Although as the door opens, the small chain is still attached from the door to the wall; she's aware that a barrier still remains and the smile quickly dissipates.

He looks at her through the small crack he's created but doesn't say anything. She came here, she can do the talking.


	3. Breaking

**Chapter Three:  
**Breaking

"Hi." Rory greeted in an all-too-chipper tone, especially for the time of night.

Jess matched her greeting with a stoic stare.

"Um, sorry for waking you."

Again, he said nothing.

"Can we talk?" She asked, motioning for him to remove the chain that held the door only slightly ajar.

He closed the door and Rory sighed, about ready to walk away. However, it was re-opened almost instantly, this time wide enough to allot her walking space to move inside. With his right hand, he swiftly motioned her to do so.

Once inside she took a seat on the edge of the mattress. "Thanks for opening the door."

"Well I figured you could just go downstairs and steal the spare key—seeing as it's your mom's inn and all." You could hear the tired in his voice as he finally spoke.

She smiled softly. "I probably wouldn't have thought of that…besides, I doubt the keys would work on those chain-thingies."

"Right." He yawned.

"You look tired." Rory stated, for the most part just stalling for time.

"Yeah, that's kind of why I was sleeping."

"Right. Sorry again."

Jess waved it off with his hand. "What'd you need?"

"Oh," she looked down at her hands as if she was finding them way more interesting than the current conversation, "I just thought we should talk. You left the diner really quick earlier—I just think we have things we need to talk about."

"Like what? Loose ends?"

"Kind of like that I guess. Loose ends—more specifically, what happened in Philadelphia?" She approached the statement as a question, hoping he'd be alright with where the exchange was heading.

"Listen Rory, I don't need you telling me how it was a mistake again, I get it. Like I said back then, I'll say it again. It is what it is."

"No…I…I didn't mean…"

"Don't worry about it."

"We need to talk about it." She announced.

"What's there to talk about? I kissed you, you left. End of story."

Rory looked down towards her shoes and spoke softly. "I _did_ kiss you back." Her words were almost inaudible to him.

"You were trying to cheat on _him_." Jess spit out.

"I didn't kiss you in spite of him." She mumbled to the ground.

Jess rubbed his temples as a head ache was emerging. "Seeing how much I hate confrontation, how 'bout I make you a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"Let's just agree to put all the horrible stuff behind us."

"What do you mean? Like, start fresh?"

"In a way, I guess. Sure."

"Fresh like, 'Hi I'm Rory, please don't sneak out through my window?' fresh?" She looked at him questionably.

He chuckled. "I wouldn't say _that_ fresh."

"Then what do you mean?"

"We have a past, we just can't forget that. I've made mistakes, _you've _made mistakes. Let's just keep them in the past. No hard feelings."

"No hard feelings?" She asked, eyeing him for reassurance.

"Right."

"Okay then." A semi-awkward silence emerged. All that could be heard was heavy breathing on both ends and the occasional yawn from Jess. "I don't know what to say." Rory added, moments later.

Jess just shrugged and took a seat next to her. He then leaned back so that his upper body was sprawled out across the disheveled bed, his legs dangling off the edge.

Rory looked back towards him. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful, she smiled.

Interrupting vibrations suddenly went off in her purse, causing her to rummage through it to look for her cell phone. After examining the caller I.D. she stood up. "I should probably go."

Jess mumbled something undistinguishable.

"Are you going to be in town for a while?"

"At least a week."

"So maybe I'll talk to you later then."

"Mhmm." He was falling asleep again.

"Bye." She whispered as she leaned in to close the door and went out into the hall way.

---

With a muffled thump, the door was closed. Phone still in hand, she dialed familiar numbers.

"Ace?" The person on the other end answered.

"Yeah." _Silence. _"You called?" She descended the stairs of the inn and sat down on one of the comfy sofas in the darkened dining room.

"Yes, I did."

"Okay…well, did you need something?"

"I was just wondering if you were ready to apologize."

"Apologize? Apologize for what?"

"For getting all pissed off about what I told Lucy."

"Why should I apologize for that? You're the one who told her."

"I wasn't going to sit there and lie to her face. You should be thankful I told her."

"I was going to tell her eventually. It wasn't your something you needed to tell her in the first place!"

"She deserved to know!" He insisted.

"Listen, Logan. I'm really not in the mood to continue this argument. I've had enough of those today."

"Well, when's a good time for you to fit it into your schedule? Next Tuesday? We're going to have to get through this eventually, why put it off?"

"We don't necessarily have to get through this." She mumbled into the receiver.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think I mean?"

"I think you were saying we should break up."

"It's what I was generally implying."

"You don't mean that."

"What? You're not going to take me seriously now?"

"You don't mean that," Logan repeated, "we're good together."

"Sure we're good together—when we're not arguing or when you're not off in some international city doing whatever the hell you do."

"You know I can't help the traveling, it's business."

"That's not the point."

A moment passes. "You're really serious about this?"

"Logan, you know I love you, but it's just not working."

"I thought we were doing just fine."

"Logan…"

"Okay, I admit we have a few problems…" There was a pause as he thought about their current relationship. "it's really not working…is it?"

"I'm afraid not."

"I love you, Ace."

"I know."

"And maybe I'll see you around?"

"You know where I live."

"Yeah, I guess I do. So I'll see you."

"Bye, Logan." With slightly trembling fingers, she pressed the glowing red 'End' button to cut off the call.

--- The Next Morning:

Christopher walked out of the kitchen to the foot of the staircase.

"Hey Lor?"

"Yeah?" Lorelai shouted from her bedroom.

"Don't you have _anything_ to eat around here? Your fridge is empty."

Lorelai came down the stairs meeting her husband at the bottom. "You should know me better than to think there is actually food in this house."

"You look pretty well fed to me." Chris followed her into the kitchen.

"Yeah, well I usually go to L—" Quickly changing the subject, Lorelai looked around the room. "I almost forgot about you!" Lorelai began talking to a brown paper bag.

"What's that?"

"Oh, I was supposed to give it to you."

"What's inside?" Christopher excitedly peeked inside after Lorelai handed it to him. "A scone." His enthusiasm dropped.

"A really good scone!" Lorelai added enthusiastically.

Chris tore off a piece making crumbs scatter across the kitchen floor as he put it into his mouth. "You're right, this is really good."

"Told you." She smiled.

"Who'd you say gave that to you?"

"They gave it to _you_." She corrected.

"Right. So who was it?"

Lorelai faked a cough. "Luke."

Confusion hit Chris' face. "You're talking to him again?"

"Rory wanted to go to the diner yesterday, so um, we went. And uh, he gave me a scone to give to you."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Sorry, I should have told you that we went there…I guess I didn't think it was going to be a big deal."

"It's not a big deal."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'm totally cool with you going there."

"Okay." Lorelai looked at him unsure.

"I'm serious! How about we go there right now for some breakfast?"

"Oh. Um, I guess we can do that, sure."

"Great. I'll go wake up Rory and we can go as soon as she's ready." Chris said excitedly.

"Rory already left."

"Really? It's only eight."

"Yeah, she left me a note saying she was going to hang out with Lane today."

"Alright then, I guess we can just grab our coats and go."

"Can't wait!" Lorelai faked a smile.

--- Minutes Later:

Lorelai and Christopher were linked arm and arm walking towards the diner. There pace was incredibly slow as Lorelai was stalling for time by pointing out every little thing.

"And over there, on that bench, is where Rory used to sit when she waited for her bus to go to Chilton." Her arm drifted in the general direction.

"Really?" Chris had by now caught on to her ruse and was just admiring the sights.

"Yeah! And over there," she pointed towards the gazebo, "is where they have this annual Bid a Basket festival." Lorelai smiled reminiscing on past memories.

"What?" Chris noticed her smile and couldn't help but smile as well.

"Well, there was this one year, where Miss Patty tried to hook me up with all these weird men." She laughed. "So I was just standing there while all these guys I've never even seen before keep bidding on my basket! Suddenly, I realize I have seen them before! Miss Patty had sent me all of there pictures earlier hoping I would date them or something. So, desperate for none of them to get my basket I stormed into…" Lorelai trailed off.

"What happened after that?" Chris seemed very interested into the story.

"Oh, I, uh, forgot." Chris' eyes met her own with a strange look which Lorelai tried her best to avoid. "Oh look! We're here." She quickly walked passed Chris to enter the diner first.

Lorelai sat down at the counter where Chris sat down to join her only a moment later.

"Hey Lorelai! I didn't expect to see you in here." Lane greeted her as she held a pot of coffee.

"I was about to say the same. I thought you were hanging out with Rory today."

"Rory's in town? I haven't heard from her in a week or so."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's strange; she left me a note saying she was going to be with you all day."

Lane shrugged as some customer waved her over. "I'll be right back. The job calls."

"So Rory's not with Lane?" Chris asked.

"Guess not."

Luke came downstairs tying an apron around his waist. He walked behind the counter and noticed Lorelai sitting there. "Hey, you're back."

"Yeah, I am." She smiled. Snapping out of her slight trance. "Oh, and you remember Christopher."

"Chris." Luke nodded towards him.

"Luke." Chris did the same.

"So can I get some pancakes?" Lorelai interrupted their stare-down.

"Yeah sure." Luke turned around to go to the kitchen."

"He didn't even ask me what I wanted."

"Sorry Sweets, you probably aren't going to get anything." She smiled sympathetically at her husband as she rubbed his upper-arm.

"Why?"

"Do you even have to ask?"

"I didn't do anything to him." He said, dead serious.

"Chris, you can't be that ignorant."

"What? I'm ignorant now?"

"You know what I meant."

"No, tell me what you mean."

Lorelai took a deep breath. "One minute I'm with him and the next I'm with you. He's going to hate you; you were always an issue."

"Now you're blaming your break up on me."

"No…it's just that—"

Chris interrupted. "Just because you loved me more than him is no reason to put the blame on me."

"Excuse me?" By now there argument had reached a volume that allowed every person in the diner to listen in—including Luke.

"What?"

"You think Luke and I broke up because of you?"

"I'm not going to deal with this right now. I'll be at home." Chris stood up and stormed out of the diner.

Lorelai leaned forward on the counter, supporting her head with her left arm.

Luke was about to go and talk to her when the phone began to ring.

"Luke's."

"Hey Luke, it's T.J."

"What do you need, T.J.?" Luke was, as always, sounding irritated.

"Geeze. Why so crabby? I just thought you should know Liz is at the hospital right now."

"Has she had the baby yet?"

"Not yet, but the doctor says it could be any moment now."

"I'll be right there." Luke hung up the phone and began to frantically look for his keys.

"What's wrong?" Lorelai looked up.

"I can't find my keys."

"Oh. Well, when was the last time you saw them?"

Luke tried to figure out the answer when he came to a realization. "When I gave them to Jess early this morning…and now I have to get to the hospital and I can't get there with out my truck." He began to rant.

"Calm down. I can go get my jeep and I'll take you there."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'll be back in a few minutes."


	4. Birth

**Chapter Four:  
**Birth

The silence that filled the Jeep was disastrous. Lorelai's eyes had remained on the road for the past ten minutes now—either she was being extremely focused on the task at hand or, more likely, was trying to occupy herself with anything other than the fact that Luke was staring at her, looking as if he was about to say something.

She couldn't take it anymore. As she was reaching for the dial to turn on the radio, Luke finally spoke. "Thanks, for, uh, you know…" He made a gesture with his hands as he tried to get his point across.

"Oh yeah, no problem. Don't worry about it." She finally took a quick glance at Luke and smiled before returning her eyes to the road, forgetting the radio.

"I feel like I need to say something."

"You don't have to; quiet's fine…quiet is good."

Luke looked out the passenger side window. "Did you really mean that?"

"What? The quiet thing. I'll have you know I'm plenty good at being quiet."

He smiled slightly. "No, not that. What you said in the diner earlier."

"Oh, that? Of course I did. If Gilmore's are anything, they are not liars."

Luke cleared his throat indicating that she was lying right now.

"Fibber. Not liar." She grinned at him.

Luke rolled his eyes. "Well, thanks."

--- Earlier that Morning:

Sound asleep in her bed, Rory lifted her comforter over her head and rolled onto her side. Subconsciously she was drowning out the noise coming from her window. The knocking increased in volume as she did this, causing her to throw the comforter over her head and sit up. Groggily, she looked towards the window and saw none other than Jess Mariano

She glared at him through her window and he just smiled. Rory got up and walked to the window, lifting the window and pushingit so it would open. A smirk started to form on his face. "What?" She asked, agitated.

"After all these years, I finally got to witness your withering stare."

"That was _not_ my withering stare. I'll have you know that was just a simple glare. If, for some reason or another, you actually see my withering stare, let me tell you, you'd already be on the other side of Stars Hollow screaming for mercy."

Jess quietly laughed. "All this talk and no coffee. I'm impressed."

"Yes, well you woke me up. No sleep equals angry Rory and angry Rory means rant." She sighed before continuing. "Gilmore's need their sleep…"

"…and coffee." He added.

"Yes, coffee. Especially at…" she quickly turned to look at the clock, realizing it read 6:04, "Jess! It's six in the morning. What the hell are you doing here at six in the morning?"

"I thought you would have caught on by now," he mumbled more to himself. He then added in normal tone, "I was in the neighborhood, curious as to whether or not you wanted to go out for some coffee."

"With you?" Rory looked at him in surprise.

"Well, I could call Logan if you wanted. Organize a spur of the moment date for you guys. I can be your official date planner!" He laced his sarcasm with mock enthusiasm.

"Actually…Logan and I aren't together anymore." Rory looked down, avoiding Jess' eyes, missing the flash of happiness that appeared.

"Oh." Jess was genuinely shocked. "Sorry."

Rory grinned, looking at him once more. "No you're not."

"Yeah, well, I was being polite."

A comfortable silence emerged and ended with a sigh from Rory. "I'm going to go get ready." Jess smiled. "I'll be about twenty minutes. You can come in if you want though. Read my books or something."

Jess braced himself in the window sill, getting ready for his attempt to climb through the window.

Rory looked at him, baffled. "I _was _going to let you come in through the front door."

Jess was already standing inside her room before she even finished speaking. "This way's more fun, brings back all the good memories." He smirked.

"Keep your voice down, Mom doesn't know about those times." She matched his facial expression as she backed into the kitchen on her way to the bathroom.

--- Present Time:

"Hi, um my name is Luke Danes…my sister's about to have a baby, or maybe she already had the baby. Um, anyway, do you know where I can find her?" Luke asked the nurse standing behind the counter as Lorelai stood close behind him.

"Okay Mr. Danes, all I need is your sister's name and I can tell you where to find her."

"Oh, right. Her name is Liz…actually I guess it'd be Eliza—"

"Luke! Lorelai!" T.J. shouted, interrupting Luke. Both adults turned to see a sweating T.J. trying to catch his breath.

"Hey T.J." Lorelai replied.

"I didn't know you two were back together! That's so great!" T.J. went in to hug Lorelai who awkwardly hugged him back.

"Actually, we're not—" Luke tried to add before being interrupted by T.J. once more.

"I'm glad you guys could make it! Liz is resting right now. I just thought I'd come out here and see if you got here alright. So I come out to the lobby, and here you two are!"

"Did she have the baby already?" Luke asked.

"Oh, little Doula? Yup. They were taking her to the maternity ward last time I saw her.

"Doula?" Lorelai looked at T.J. with the oddest of expressions.

"Yeah. Great name isn't it? Me and Lizzie were running the Renaissance circuit and some guy was carrying this box to his booth. The box had some writing on it, said: 'Doula Farms' on it. We both looked at each other and smiled. It had to be fate."

"Yeah that must be fate." Luke smiled.

"Or they could both plead insanity." Lorelai whispered to Luke, smiling.

"What was that, Lorelai?"

"Oh, I was just telling Luke that I could really go for some tea."

"Food courts that-a-way." He pointed towards the cafeteria using his thumb.

"Uh…thanks, T.J. I think I'll go that way now. Luke, do you want to come?"

"Actually, I think I want to go see my niece."

"Okay, I'll catch up to you guys in a bit."

Lorelai left the two men and went down one of the hospital hallways, pulling out her cell phone.

---

"Wow, it's already nine! Can you believe we've been sitting here for over two hours already?" Rory looked over at Jess who was sitting across from her in the small coffee shop.

"Time flies when you're having fun."

"I think that must be the most cliché thing I've ever heard coming out of your mouth."

"Seemed appropriate to say at the time. I didn't think you were going to mock me for it."

"Well I apologize for mocking you."

"I don't think I want to forgive you." Jess joked.

Rory pouted jokingly. "Mean."

Jess smiled and took a sip of his coffee as Rory's phone began to ring. "Sorry." She excused herself as she pressed the green button on her Sidekick. "Hello?"

"Is that all you want to say to me?"

"Hi, Mom?" Rory tried.

"So kid, where are you?"

"Out with Lane. Remember I left you a note—"

"Try again."

"What?"

"Lane was at the diner this morning."

"Oh."

"Tell Jess 'Hi' for me."

Rory sighed turning to Jess who was listening with amusement to the conversation. "Mom says 'Hi.'"

"Busted, huh?" Jess smirked and Rory chose to ignore him.

"So, Mom, did you need something?"

"Well, actually I wanted to tell you that I'm at the hospital right now."

"The hospital? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you that your boyfriend's mother just had her baby."

"I'm going to ignore the 'boyfriend' part right now since you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. What hospital are you at?"

"Saint Francis."

"Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes."

"Bye Sweets."

"Bye!" Rory hung up her phone and turned back towards Jess. "We need to go to the hospital."

"Why?"

"Your sister was just born."

--- Later:

Jess approached Rory as she stood in front of the maternity ward window looking at all of the new born babies. Putting his left hand on her right shoulder, he startled her causing her to jump about an inch off the ground.

He smirked. "Sorry, was I interrupting something?" He teased, removing his hand.

She turned to look at him straight in the eyes. "No…I was just thinking."

Jess didn't really want to press on although the urge was too strong. "Thinking 'bout what…?" His tone was friendly, much like it was when they first met. Things were definitely back to normal.

Rory sighed and looked back towards the babies. "Life." She sighed.

"Oh, complicated thinking."

"Yeah, it sucks."

Jess removed his glance from Rory and also turned towards the glass window. The silence was comfortable as both _young adults _stood in the desolate hallway.

The quiet lasted for minutes before Rory apprehensively spoke. "How's your mom?" She asked, looking at him again.

"Good. Tired. She woke up when I went in there but she's resting again now. I thought I would swing by here and watch my new baby sister."

"That must be nice."

"What?"

"Having a younger sibling to play with."

"The twenty-two year age difference might affect the 'playing' aspect."

Rory smiled and looked away from him for a second before focusing her gaze again. "So which one is she?"

"Doula?" She's right there." He pointed at a small girl who was fidgeting slightly.

"Doula? That's an interesting name."

"Yeah, well Liz likes to pick out odd names for her kids."

"Jess isn't a weird name." Rory stated, catching what he was implying.

He stared her down to see if she was actually being serious. "It's kind of weird…"

"I never had a problem with it." She flashed him a grin as she looked back towards Doula. "She's cute."

"Must run in the family." He smirked gaining a playful glare from Rory.

"Almost too cute to stay away from for too long…" Rory edged on.

"Mhmm…" Jess played along.

"I mean, a sister needs to know her big brother."

"I guess." He smiled seeing where she was going with this.

Rory looked down, no longer able to look him in the eyes. She preoccupied herself with a loose string on the hem of her shirt as she began to whisper. "It would probably be unfortunate, for her mental health that is, if she didn't see her big brother at least once a week." She let go of the stray string and suddenly looked in his eyes once more.

"Once a week?" His tone matched hers as he took a step forward, grabbing her hands.

"Yeah…stability is good for a girl." She took a small step forward as well, slightly tightening their grip.

"I think I can handle that." They were now merely inches apart and moving closer.

"Good." A softened gulp went down her throat.

"Good." He smiled as he leaned forward, capturing her lips in a sweet kiss.


	5. Spontaneity

**Chapter Five:  
**Spontaneity

The kiss was merely a peck although it sent a shock of emotion through both Rory and Jess. They stood, foreheads pressed against each others, fiddling with their hands.

"So, I had fun today."

"Day's not over yet." He reminded her in whisper.

Rory smiled, trying her best from saying 'Dirty!' in response to his innuendo. "We should probably talk this through."

"That was always your problem. Everything has to be rationalized. You just can't do." He seriously joked.

"That's not true. How about that one time?"

"What one time?" He smirked, knowing the likelihood of her actually thinking something up.

"Um…the one time when that one thing happened…Fine! You're right! But you can't blame me for wanting to think things through."

Jess smiled and leaned in for another kiss. This time it was filled with more passion, more longing. Just as Rory was responding, he stopped.

"What was that?" Rory asked, slightly upset at the sudden halt.

"That was me being spontaneous. Requires absolutely no thinking." He flashed another smile.

"Spontaneity seems fun." Rory blushed.

"Well, I guess you should try it sometime." Jess let go of her hands and pretended to walk off down one of the hallways in the hospital.

"Jess! Wait!" Rory called after him.

Jess turned around quickly, trying to suppress one of his famous smirks. "Yes?"

"Come back here for a second."

He took a few steps towards her. "You need something?"

As he got closer to her, she put her arms around his neck as he subconsciously did the same around her waist. This time she leaned in.

A moment later she pulled back so they were facing each other, still in each other's embrace. "Being spontaneous isn't that bad." She grinned.

"I'd have to agree." Jess responded, placing a kiss on her forehead.

Abruptly, Rory removed her hands from around his neck and began backing away from him. Jess looked at her in confusion.

"Where are you going?"

"Can you imagine the look on Luke's face if he saw us here, doing _that_? He'd probably have a heart attack."

Jess reached for one of her hands, dragging her back towards him. "Well, it's a good thing we're in a hospital."

"You have a point there." She placed her head on his shoulder as he hugged her closely. "I still have to think this through though."

"I know you do." Jess whispered into her ear.

"I mean, I just broke up with Logan yesterday."

"Mhmm." He rocked them both back and forth slowly.

She lifted her head so she could look straight into his eyes. "I don't want you to be the rebound guy."

"I don't want to be the rebound guy."

"Good. We're in agreement on something." Rory looked pleased before setting her head back on his shoulder.

"I want it to work this time." He whispered again, almost inaudibly.

"I wanted it to work last time." She replied in the same tone.

"I'm sorry I screwed it up…"

"It wasn't just your fault."

"I'm sorry anyway."

"I know."

They pulled apart slowly, relishing in the moment of something new. "So we're going to try?" Jess looked at her hopefully.

Rory pretended to think about it. "I guess…" She announced in a tone that sounded as if she was exasperated at the idea.

Jess was about to reply when Lorelai came out of nowhere. "Hey you two, what are you guys up to?" In truth, Lorelai had been peeking her head out from behind the corner for at least five minutes now, waiting for the opportune time to interrupt. She saw and heard enough to know that the two of them were together again but she'd have to pretend she didn't know a thing.

Rory almost jumped out of her skin and Jess simply stood there looking collected. "Hey Mom. We were just talking…yeah, just talking."

Lorelai tried to hold back her laughter. "That's great, Hun. " Quickly changing the subject, "So, which one's Jessica?" She looked through the maternity ward window.

"Who's Jessica?" Rory asked.

"You know, Jess' sister."

"Her name's actually Doula." Jess informed her.

"I know that, but would it be really cool if her name was Jessica. It'd be easier to remember anyway. Jess is Liz's boy and Jessica is Liz's girl. I think it would be great."

"Right…" Jess rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Doula's right there. I'm surprised you haven't already seen her; you've been here longer than we have."

"Actually I've seen here. I was just trying to make conversation…anyway, Rory can I talk to you?" Lorelai changed the subject fast before dragging her daughter by the arm away from the viewing window and Jess.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked, agitated.

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

"What are you talking about?"

"You, Jess…the hugging…the _kissing_." Lorelai made a face of disgust.

"You saw all that?"

"Believe me, I wish I hadn't. A little too lovey-dovey for my taste."

Rory crossed her arms across her chest. "We weren't being lovey-dovey."

"Okay, what would you call that then?"

"Friend-ly?"

"Uh huh… so is there anything you want to tell Mommy?"

"Oh right, the insane asylum called, they were confirming your appointment."

"Ha! Very original. Come on, you can tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"You know the thing. The one about you and Jess that I already know about but I can't mention because then I would have been eavesdropping and then the people at the Cool Mom Agency would take my certificate away!"

"If you already know then why are you going through all the trouble to find out?"

"Because…if I just walk up to you and say: 'Hey Rory. I saw you kissing Jess. Oh, and by the way I heard you guys are back together. That's great! But what about Logan? Oh you know,—your ex-boyfriend who you failed to mention you broke up with.' That would be slightly awkward."

"I get it…" Rory rolled her eyes.

"So, I ask you again. Is there anything you want to tell Mommy?"

"I broke up with Logan." Rory announced through gritted teeth.

"And…"

"And now Jess and I are kind of together."

"Kind of?"

"Are. We ARE together. Happy now?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"No problem."

Silence emerged between the two usually chatty Gilmore girls. They just stood there no longer knowing what to say.

Just as the quiet was becoming irritating, Luke walked up holding Doula in his hands. His complete concentration was focused on not dropping the newborn.

Luke looked up just in time to see both girls come up to him. "Hey."

"Hi Luke! Hi Baby!" Rory stepped in close to get a better look. "She's cute!"

"She's going to be real heartbreaker." Lorelai added. "Just like that brother of hers." Her last sentence gained a glare from Rory.

"You just can't leave it alone, can you Mom?"

"I'm trying."

"Well you should try harder!" Rory turned around, increasing her pace down one of the many hallways.

Luke just stood there dumbfounded. "Did I miss something?"

"Rory and Jess are together now."

"What about Logan?"

"She broke up with Logan."

"Wow, this conversation is screaming déjà vu." Luke stated.

"Tell me about it." They both looked down at Doula who was sleeping soundly. "Can I hold her?"

"Um, yeah. Sure." Luke carefully put the small girl into Lorelai's hands.

"I want another one."

"Another baby?"

"Yeah. I think it would be fun to raise another one. Rory's all grown up and I just think it would be nice to have another one running around."

"Have you and Christopher talked about it?" There was no anger in his voice, no jealousy, just curiosity.

"We talked about it the other day. He asked. I told him I wasn't ready."

"Are you ready?"

"I want to be…I think I am…I am."

"Then why did you say no?"

"I don't know…it just didn't feel right." Lorelai looked into Luke's eyes just then and smiled. "Here, I should probably go and find Rory." She handed Doula to Luke. "Thanks for listening."

"No problem." He offered her a sympathetic smile. As Lorelai began walking in the same direction Rory left in he called out her name.

"Yeah?"

"You know the diner's business has been going down. If you know any ways to get our old regular customers to come in more often I'd really appreciate it."

Lorelai grinned. "I'll do my best."

---

Lorelai found Rory sitting on one the uncomfortable chairs in the waiting area.

"Is this seat taken?"

"There's no place holder saving it." Rory replied bitterly.

"Hey, Kid. I'm sorry I got a little mad. I just don't want this to be a sore subject between us…again."

"I don't want it to either. It's just that he's changed so much and I still feel like you don't approve."

"Well he doesn't have a great track record when it comes to you."

"He helped me out of my rut last year."

"That he did."

"And after I told you, you seemed like you saw him in a different light or something."

"I did."

"So what's the problem?"

Lorelai took a deep breath. "When you two are together it reminds me of the last time you guys were. And that reminds me of how he left without a word and you did nothing about it. No wallowing, no nothing. You didn't even talk about him. It was like he didn't exist and I know it was eating you on the inside. What you had was real and I don't want to see you like that again."

"If I promise to wallow the next time will you be okay with it?"

"I'd rather you not have to wallow at all."

"Me too." Rory smiled. "Sorry for getting mad at you."

"Same here, Kid."

"I'm going to have to head back to Yale soon. It's getting pretty late and I wanted to try and figure out a way to apologize to Lucy."

"Did you ask Jess if he wanted to come with you?"

"Come with me where?"

"Yale."

"Why?"

"You know…"

"What? Oh My God! Gross! My own mother…"

Lorelai chose to ignore her. "Call me tomorrow?"

"If I feel like it." Rory stubbornly answered.

Lorelai then saw Jess walking down the hallway into the lobby. "Hey, there he is. You can go ask him." She winked at her daughter, knowing full well that she would.

"Bye, Mom."

"Bye, Sweets. Remember," Lorelai then went about using air quotes, "_drive_ safe!" Rory just glared at her.

---

Rory had approached Jess just as he entered the Lobby. She grabbed one of his hands pulling him back in the direction he came from, not stopping until she was sure they were out of the sight of Lorelai.

"Hi." She smiled before kissing him quickly on the lips.

"What was that?"

"Mom was in the Lobby."

"Ah…You didn't tell her."

"I told her. Well actually she already knew. She was eavesdropping earlier."

"We really have to do something about her." Jess grabbed Rory's other hand and started playing with it.

"That we do. So, I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening."

"Well, I have to get back to Yale tonight."

"Uh huh…"

"And since you drove me here, I kind of need a way to get there."

"Right..."

"And my car is currently still in Stars Hollow since you drove me here."

"Naturally."

"But Yale is currently closer than Stars Hollow. So I think it would be easier for you to take me there."

"I could do that."

"Good." She grinned. "But there's a problem."

"And what's that?"

"My car would still be in Stars Hollow."

"It would be, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. So you can either drop me off and then pick me up after my classes tomorrow and drive me back to Stars Hollow so I can get my car…"

"Or…"

"Or you could stay there for the night and hang out with me all day and drive me to get my car later tomorrow afternoon."

"So, what you're saying, in either situation I have to be your personal chauffeur." He smirked.

"Yes. But might I recommend the second option."

"It does sound the better of the two."

"That was exactly what I was thinking."


	6. Relationships

**Chapter Six:  
**Relationships

Lorelai opened the door of her house and set her keys down on the small counter in the foyer. It was extremely silent throughout the place and she started to wonder if Chris had even come home after their fight earlier that morning.

"Chris?" She called out his name but received no reply. Walking into the darkened living room, the blinking red light of the answering machine caught her attention. Pressing 'Play', she stood silently and listened.

"Hey Lor. I really think we need to talk. I just need a little time to think so I think I'm going to spend the night in Hartford. You can call me tomorrow and maybe we can get together to talk. Talking would be good…Anyway, I guess that's it."

--- New Haven:

"So, what do you think? It's great isn't it?" Rory smiled at Jess as they were standing outside the door to the apartment she shared with Paris.

Jess looked around at his surroundings; this wasn't exactly what the place he pictured Rory living in looked like. The walls were painted gray and were chipped so badly that you could barely tell they were supposed to be that color and the small amount of light that was coming from the cracked ceiling flickered more often than a strobe light.

"I hope you're not serious. This place is a dump." Jess stated, still looking at all the imperfections of the building.

"I think it has its charms. Just imagine how great this place probably looked when it was first built."

"Do you want to know what I think?"

"What do you think?" She asked as she worked at unlocking the many locks attached to the door.

"I think the 'du-op' group downstairs slipped you a little something when you moved in."

Rory scowled as she finally got the door open. "You're mean. If I didn't like you so much I would leave you out here for the du-op group to do whatever they wanted with you. But, since you happen to be lucky enough to have gained my oh-so-sought-after affection, I'll just have to let you in to my apartment where _I_ can do whatever I want with you."

Jess followed Rory as she backed into the apartment. "And what _exactly_ do you want to do with me?"

"Oh, I don't know…we could play dress up. I have this great set of pearls that would look great with your skin tone."

"You're such a tease."

"And you love it."

Rory edged her lips near his, tempting him to make the first move. She looked him in the eyes and saw him smirking, causing her to pout slightly once again. The expression quickly dissipated as she closed her eyes and pressed their lips against each other's. Small kisses became elongated. As he reciprocated the kiss he slightly opened his mouth and pushed his tongue against her lips, begging for entry inside. She immediately granted his silent request as both tongues waged a battle in their passionate kiss, hands flying everywhere.

_They were completely distracted._

A bedroom door opened without notice and Paris stepped into the main room of the apartment, mouth opened wide. _This wasn't Logan_. "Geeze, Gilmore. Next time you bring a boy over at least inform me of it beforehand. That way I'm not woken up by the bumps and thumps of you two running into things. I mean, its one thing if you're bringing Logan here to do your dirty work. I get it, we have our needs…just tell me and I'll leave for a little while. Especially tell me if you're bringing some random guy home to cheat on him; I'd rather not have any knowledge of these things."

By now, Rory hand Jess had stopped, soon after was an apologetic whisper from Rory to Jess. Both were currently facing Paris. "Oh, it's him." She stated, recognizing Jess after a moment.

Rory turned to face Jess. "Would you mind going and waiting in my room for a bit…? I have to talk to her right now."

"Yeah, sure."

Rory smiled appreciatively. "It's the door on the right. I'll be right there."

Jess walked off towards Rory's bedroom, closing the door as he entered.

"What's he doing here?"

"Jess? His mom just gave birth to a little girl. He's here to meet his newborn sister."

"Not here, Connecticut…here as in _Here_, in our apartment."

"I brought him here."

"Why? To cheat on Logan? Finally had enough of his infidelities and decided to get him back with an old boyfriend of yours?"

"It's nothing like that, Paris. Logan and I broke up."

"What!? When did that happen?"

"Yesterday."

"Yesterday? You broke up yesterday and you're already kissing him like…like _that_?"

"What do you mean like _that_?"

"Like you're about to have sex with him!" A blush arose in Rory's cheeks. "Oh my god!"

"Well…"

"Well what?"

"I'm old enough to make my own decisions, Paris. Besides, you're not my mother."

"Sorry…I'm just a little protective over you. I don't want to see you getting hurt."

"Don't worry about me."

"Do you want me to leave or something?"

"That's alright…you should stay."

"I actually had plans with Doyle tonight."

"I thought you said you were sleeping."

"Yeah…well I just said that for dramatic effect."

"Right…" Rory didn't believe her at all.

"Yeah…so, I'm just going to go to my room and get ready. I'll be out of your hair in no time at all."

"Okay…have fun."

"I will."

Rory walked to the fridge as Paris walked into her room. As Rory was gathering a couple of beers she heard Paris through the walls.

"_Doyle get up!"_

"_Why?"_

"_We're going out."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because I said so, now get up!"_

"_Fine!"_

Rory shook her head at Paris' ploy before quickly exiting the living room area and slipping into her room. She set the beers on her dresser as she watched Jess sitting at the foot of her bed reading one of her books.

The small noise the bottles made when she set them on the hard surface caused Jess to look up.

"Hey there." He greeted, setting the book on Rory's nightstand.

"Sorry about that." She sat down next to him and he immediately put an arm around her shoulders.

"It's alright."

"Do you want a beer?" Rory tried to stand up to retrieve the bottles but Jess pulled her back down.

"No, I'm good."

"Oh. Okay." She snuggled her head into the crook of his neck. "So…"

"So…" Jess repeated.

"What do you want to do now?"

"Don't really care; whatever's fine."

"You sure?"

"Mmhm." Jess mumbled right before kissing Rory on the top of the head.

"In that case, you have to let me up so I can go and grab my pearls."

"Let me rephrase that, _anything_ not requiring me becoming a cross-dresser."

She pouted. "You're no fun."

"Sorry." He smirked.

Rory sighed heavily. "I guess we'll just have to finish what we started."

"And what's that?"

Rory lifted her head, catching his eyes staring at her. Motioning towards his lips, she kissed him softly. "Oh, that." He smiled and returned a more passionate kiss, leaning back towards the bed and bringing her with him.

--- Stars Hollow:

The sun had set hours ago behind the historic looking buildings of Stars Hollow. The stars had already begun to show, assisting the street lamps in the illuminating of the bare sidewalks. Everyone was either in bed or headed that way as Luke turned the plastic sign on his door from stating 'Open' to 'Closed'. He had just finished counting the money in the register and wiping all the tables down so that they were clean. Shutting of the lights, he headed upstairs.

Once inside his small apartment, he walked to the answering machine. Noticing the red blinking light, he pressed the button to play the message. Much like Lorelai had done only an hour ago, unknown to him.

"Good afternoon Mr. Danes. Sorry to have missed you, this is Addie Thompson calling from the Hartford Court House. I was just calling to remind you that your trial for custody of one, April Nardini, begins tomorrow at noon. It would be best for you to arrive about a half an hour prior to your scheduled start time. Best of luck to you."

The message ended with a high-pitched sound as Luke made his way to his unmade bed. As he lay down, he suddenly wasn't tired anymore. All thoughts went to tomorrow and the events that were to come.

**Next Day:**

The sun that was pouring through the blinds caused Rory to stir. As she once again became conscience, she couldn't help but notice a bare arm wrapped protectively over her waist. Her gaze then shifted, now looking at the man's face to which it belonged. His eyes were closed, curly dark hair as messy as ever. A small smirk could even be seen on his face.

She briefly thought of just letting him be until he woke up naturally. Of course, that thought quickly diminished as her stomach began to grumble.

Rory nudged Jess softly with her right shoulder a few times. To her dismay, he still seemed to be asleep. Frustrated, she shifted on to her side so that she was facing him and began using her left arm to shake him. "Jess."

"Mhmm.." Jess still didn't open his eyes. Instead, he chose to shut them even tighter and used the arm that was still around Rory's waist to bring her closer to him.

"Jess." She said it louder this time.

Jess sighed heavily and opened his eyes to find Rory's staring straight back at him. He smiled genuinely. "Hey."

"Hi." Rory blushed, suddenly becoming shy.

"So…this is what it's like to wake up next to you." His comment caused her blush to darken, which she tried to hide by stuffing her face into her pillow. "What? Something the matter?"

She turned to face him once more. "No. It's just weird. Everything just seems perfect right now."

"Perfect?"

"Yeah." She leaned into him and gave him a quick peck at his lips. "Do you think we're doing this too fast?" Rory asked out of nowhere.

"What do you mean?"

"This…this relationship. It's still new…not even a day old and we already did _that._"

Jess used his right hand to remove some stray hairs from her face so that he could see her more clearly. "_Technically_ we have dated for longer than a day." He smirked once more.

"Jess, you know what I mean."

"I guess…sure it's a tad fast. But it has been a long time coming."

"I suppose you're right." Rory rested her head back down on her pillow; her stomach grumbled. Jess smirked as he heard the sound. "Can we get something to eat? We can head down to the cafeteria and I can tell you all the best combinations of cereal."

"Combinations of cereal?"

"You know…can't mix the Coco Puffs with the Fruity Pebbles because they obviously go with the Lucky Charms."

"Obviously."

"You're making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Me? Course not." He smirked and kissed the corner of her mouth.

"Okay. Let's go then."

"Now?"

"Yes, now."

---

Giving Jess a tour of the Yale campus, Rory suddenly saw something and hastened her pace, dragging him along with her.

"Whoa, what's with the sudden need to run?"

"Um, nothing. It's just…um, I wanted to show you the library."

"We already saw the library."

"Well, there's another one."

Looking to his left, Jess stopped following Rory and began to chuckle.

"Why aren't you following me? C'mon! The books are waiting!"

"Lorelai Gilmore Planetarium? You've got to be kidding me!"

"Please, let's not talk about it. My grandparents are insane, I know."

"You have a planetarium named after you."

"Yes, I'm aware."

"Wow."

"What?"

"That lettering is really big."

Rory rolled her eyes. "I really hate you right now." Jess just smirked.

"Rory! Rory!" Someone called from the distance. Both Rory and Jess turned around to see who it was. A petit dark-haired girl was running their way.

"Lucy?" Rory asked when the girl came to a complete stop in front of them, panting for breath.

"I've been looking all over for you."

"Really? Why?"

"I wanted to tell you that Marty and I broke up."

"You did, why?"

"He told me that he had feelings for someone else."

"Oh. Did he say who?" Jess looked over at Rory. He didn't know who Marty or Lucy were, but he figured their break up might have been somehow related to Rory.

"No."

"Oh. So why did you want to tell me about it? I thought you were mad at me for hiding the whole 'friends' thing."

"That's what I wanted to tell you about. Before Marty and I broke up, he told me that it was his idea to keep it a secret…and that he kind of sprung it on you. So, I forgive you."

"Really?"

"Yeah." The two girls hugged. "Anyway, I have to go meet Olivia somewhere…we should definitely talk later. You can tell me him." She smile and pointed at Jess. "Bye Rory!"

Once Lucy was out of ear shot, Jess spoke. "Where'd you meet her? She seems very…energetic."

"Be nice." Rory looped her right arm around his left and she continued their tour.

--- Hartford Court House:

"Mr. Danes, Ms. Nardini, we will now begin the custody trial for one, April Nardini."

Both Luke and Anna took their seats next to their attorneys. It was going to be a long day…

---

**A/N: **And after much waiting, there's chapter six. I had more done than I thought I did. I filled in some spots, and there it is. Thanks for your patience in waiting for the chapter. Reviews would be nice…if you feel like it of course.


	7. Confrontation

**Chapter Seven:  
**Confrontation

Rory knocked on the dorm's door. The knocking was rather quiet at first, but after hearing some ninety's pop music blaring in the background, she decided it would be better to put a little more thump into her efforts. She had just gotten back from Stars Hollow where Jess had taken her to retrieve her car. Night time had already fallen upon the Ivy League campus and Rory thought visiting some friends for an hour or so would be the perfect way to end the day. So here she was, knocking…

"Is someone at the door?" A muffled voice spoke from inside of the room.

"Why would you think that?" Another said.

"I don't know…I thought I heard knocking."

"If you heard knocking, why aren't you answering the door? Someone could be standing out there right now and listening to our conversation."

"You're right! If said person was standing outside of the door right now he or she would probably be thinking that we're being really rude right now."

"Probably."

"So you're saying I should open the door."

"Yes!"

"What if no one's out there?"

"What if someone is?"

"Right, right. Fine. I'll get it." The door opened revealing Lucy. "Oh, hey Rory! Sorry we didn't answer the door right away, you know, well…you probably heard our crazy conversation so I probably don't have to explain."

"Yeah," Lucy stepped aside to allow Rory room to get inside of the dorm. "Hey, Olivia."

Olivia didn't respond. "I told you, we're not mad at Rory now…we're mad at Marty."

"Oh, right." Olivia responded to Lucy. "Hey Rory!" She was suddenly enthusiastic to see her.

Lucy entered the room and went to sit on her worn blue sofa. Rory followed, sitting down on her folded right leg; her left dangling off of the loveseat.

"How are you doing?" Lucy asked her high toned voice at a fast-paced speed. Olivia stood up from her seat to turn down the music.

"Good. Good." Rory's face displayed a goofy smile.

"He's a good one, isn't he?" Lucy pushed.

"What?" A blush began to rise.

"You know, that incredibly handsome boy that was following you around campus today."

"Who, Logan?" Olivia asked from the other side of the room.

Lucy turned to face Olivia. "Oh no, Rory's got herself a new boy now." Rory's blush deepened. "So? Tell me about him!" Lucy faced Rory once more.

"Well, his name is Jess…"

"And…" Olivia rolled out.

"And… I don't know! What do you want to know?"

"Where'd you two meet?"

"Back in Stars Hollow…he lived there for a couple of years back in high school."

"And…"

"And we dated during senior year."

"What happened between then and now?"

"Oh, um, he left."

"He left?"

"Yeah…he didn't even say good-bye." For some reason, Rory smiled at this.

"Wow. He sounds like a jerk." Olivia stated.

"Olivia!" Lucy scolded.

"I guess he had his reasons….apparently he flunked out of high school; I don't know, I guess it was a lot of stuff."

"You're not making him sound so great right now."

Rory smiled and shrugged. "I guess that's what makes him so great."

Lucy started rearranging some of the magazines on her coffee table. "That makes absolutely no sense."

"I don't know how to explain it…its weird; it's kind of like, I don't know, he only tells stuff to me. That sounds really stupid…if you guys met him you'd know what I meant."

--- Stars Hollow

Lorelai sat on the couch, legs crossed 'Indian style' as she read one of the latest tabloid magazines. She was reading about all of these celebrity break-ups, infidelities, and blissful relationships. She knew all (or close to all) of these articles were completely made up, although she couldn't help but read them; they struck a cord.

She had called Chris earlier that day, her _husband_ and her were to talk. He was to be arriving any moment now, although any feelings of dread were non existent, instead they were replaced (oddly enough) by feelings of relief.

She was no longer reading, or skimming, or viewing the brushed-up photos of the worn magazine. Her gaze remained on the glossy pages but instead her focus was on the movement of the gravel in her driveway. _He_ was here.

As she heard his car door click open and his feet take steps out of his vehicle, her focus once again returned to the inside of her home. What she saw was hazy, by now her eyes had filled with tears; maybe she was dreading this after all…

His footsteps had reached the front steps of the porch now. One step at a time, it was as if the second hand of the clock was slowing and time was coming to a halt.

Hastily, Lorelai catapulted herself off of her sofa and rushed upstairs to her dual-sink bathroom; _the one Luke had build especially for her_. Turning the faucet that read 'Cold' in gray engraved block lettering she splashed her face with the frigid water in her attempt to wash away the tears.

Lorelai must have been moving at mach eight as it was just now when the sound of knocking could be heard on her front door; _the one Luke had fixed for her multiple times_. Although, maybe Chris wasn't in too much of a hurry and he was stalling for time on the wooden ground that wrapped around the house.

"Coming." Lorelai said to herself as she stared at her reflection in the mounted mirror in front of her. She looked broken, and her voice revealed that. She cleared her throat and smiled sadly at her reflection and headed down the stairs.

She opened the door slowly. "Hi." She greeted, her voice still sounded like it had upstairs. She cleared her throat again. The door was opened wider, allotting Chris more room to step inside. He took a step forward and kissed Lorelai on the cheek; nothing more, nothing less.

Chris made his way to the living room, passing through the small foyer with ease; she followed. He sat on the sofa; she sat on the side opposite; their hands joint in the middle.

"Lor…" Chris started and took a deep breath as Lorelai looked at him with sadness. "You still have feeling for him. "You still have feelings for him." It wasn't a question; he already knew his statement to be true. There was no point in denying it now and Lorelai had nothing to say otherwise. Instead she blinked slowly, absorbing his words as he continued. "I'm pretty sure everyone will always have feelings for their exes…but this is different. You're in love with him."

Tears began to flow freely down Lorelai's face as the true realization set in. "I…I…I love you too." She stuttered, placing her head on Chris' shoulder. A moment passes. "It's just…"

"You're _in_ love with him…" Christopher finishes.

"I'm in love with him." Lorelai sniffled through her tears.

**---**

The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Jess picked up his cell phone from the bed side table at the Dragonfly. "Hello?"

"Jess." The person on the other end stated.

"Yes..."

"It's Luke."

"I know."

"Oh."

"Was there a reason you called?"

"Yes."

"And…"

"I got custody!" Luke announced excitedly.

"What?"

"I got custody." He repeated, thinking Jess had not heard him.

"I heard you; I thought your lawyer said you probably didn't have a chance."

"Well…it's only partial custody. Summer, some holidays."

"That's great. How'd you manage that?"

"I told them about how I took care of you for two years."

"Did you mention the part about me being a complete pain in the ass?"

"No…I did tell them about how well off you are now, though."

"And it worked?"

"Seems like it."

"Wow…"

"I know."

"Well…congratulations."

"Thanks."


	8. Farewell

**Chapter Eight:  
**Farewell

Piles of boxes filled the entire downstairs of the Gilmore residence. There was nothing fancy about them, practically as plain as boxes could be. Brown…more tan in color, actually. Only fit for getting its contents from one place to another.

When he moved in, you couldn't possibly imagine he brought this much crap into what Lorelai and Rory had once deemed the 'Crap Shack'. It was fitting for the time being; although the name, however, usually didn't really fit the home anymore. It had been remodeled in a time that seemed so long ago but barely spanned a year back. The house had been shined, polished, repainted; ready for a new life; ready for _that whole package_. That was what happened before the unthinkable and now, unspeakable, happened.

The home had been refurbished, fit for the latest copy of _Home and Garden_ magazine. Although, right now, its designer looks were hidden; as if in a game of hide and seek…hiding behind those retched boxes. Those boxes that were filled with the things that had never belonged there in the first place.

But it was okay for now…they would be leaving soon enough.

Lorelai decided she didn't want to be there when the events of the last few months faded into a distant memory. The boxes were to be packed and hauled away when she was elsewhere; anywhere but there. Christopher was to sort through his stuff and leave; the guy who Lorelai had subconsciously considered as 'the back up' for all those years was to go; he couldn't be the back up anymore.

Lorelai left the morning after the 'conversation.' The one where (in spoken words at least) her marriage had ended. She got up early, at the crack of dawn, put together an overnight bag more hastily than she had ever done before, and got in her aging Jeep. Starting the engine, she looked on to her house and took a deep breath; by the time she got back it would be all hers once more.

She didn't know where she was going, she just drove on. It was a habit she had, running away from her problems; her daughter had inherited it.

Christopher returned to the house soon after Lorelai left. She had let him stay at the Dragonfly the previous night, free of charge. She said it was the least she could do. He waited on the front steps for the moving guys, they would help him box up his stuff. They were the reason why the entire downstairs of the Gilmore residence was now as difficult to navigate as one of those crazy corn mazes. The boxes were stacked high and were ready to be moved into the truck waiting outside.

Once all of the boxes were removed and on their way to their newest destination, Chris took his time to look around the house. He took a deep breath and sighed as he shut the door behind him, probably for the last time.

--- Elsewhere:

It was near noon when Lorelai pulled over to a diner outside of who knows where. The diner had one of those eclectic feel to it; resembling an aluminum trailer from the outside, the inside's furniture was plush with turquoise fabric. She looked around the room and smiled. It even had the sit-down-bar with the aluminum running along its edge, turquoise stools following its path.

She walked up to the hostess who was standing behind a podium. In front of which a sign was posted reading 'Please wait to be seated.' "Hi." The hostess (whose name tag read Betty, something Lorelai couldn't help but smile at) greeted.

"Hello." Lorelai replied politely.

"Just one today?" Betty asked.

"Yes, just one. _Always_ just one." Lorelai smiled.

"Okay, would you like a table or would you rather sit at the bar?"

Lorelai hardly debated the question. The stools by the bars could be quite entertaining if they were able to spin smoothly. Lorelai smiled at the thought. "Bar's fine."

"Okay. You can go ahead on over, menus are by the salt and pepper shakers."

"Thanks." Lorelai answered before walking past Betty to one of the empty seats.

Sitting down on the stool, she reached for one of the menus that were laying a stool over. Before even glancing at it, she whipped out her cell phone. She punched in the digits for her speed-dial number one. As the phone was ringing, she looked down at what the restaurant had to offer.

"Hey." Rory answered, sounding somewhat distracted.

"Hi, Daughter." Lorelai replied.

Lorelai heard the speaker on the other end muffle for a second before hearing her daughter's voice once more. "So, what's up?"

"I should ask you the same thing."

"Why?"

"You sound distracted."

"Oh. Well I'm not."

"Okay then. You'll never guess where I am!" Lorelai announced.

"Where?"

"Guess!"

"Mom, you know how much I dislike guessing."

Lorelai pouted on the other end. "You're no fun."

"So, where are you?"

"I have no idea."

"What?"

"I have no idea. This morning I got in my car and drove off. I haven't even stopped since I got gas in Hartford. Well, until now; I'm at this diner that looks so diner-y." Lorelai trailed.

"Sudden urge for a road trip?"

"Something like that."

"Did something happen?"

"Oh…um, not really."

"Mom…"

"Well…if you count that me and your dad decided to um, what do you say when you break up with your husband?"

"You and dad split?!"

"Yes."

"What? Why? How?"

"Talk about an interrogation…"

"Mom, this is serious."

"I know…"

"Why are you doing this? Work it out, fix it!"

"It can't be fixed."

"How can it not be fixed?"

"I…I'm in love with someone else."

"Luke?" Lorelai remained silent. "Oh."

"Yeah."

After a moment, "Are you and Luke going to get back together?"

"I don't know…it's been awkward between us lately."

"Of course it's been awkward, you married another guy."

"I don't know Hun…"

Rory noticed the need for a subject change. "So, how long are you going to be gone?"

"I don't know; I'll be back before the Winter Carnival though. Can't miss one of those."

"Yeah…"

"Okay Sweets, the lady here is waiting for my order so I better go."

"Call soon, okay?"

"I will."

"Love you, Mom."

"Bye." Lorelai hung up and looked at the menu once again. A lady walked in front of her with a writing pad.

"Something we can get for you to drink?"

"Some coffee would be good."

"Coming right up." The waitress smiled. As she came back with a pot of coffee she flipped over the mug that sat in front of Lorelai and filled it.

"Thanks." Lorelai reciprocated the smile before taking a sip. Her face tightened up slightly. It wasn't bad…it just wasn't _his._

--- Yale:

"Hey." Rory greeted. "What are you doing here?" Rory asked as she had finished unlocking every bolt on the apartment door.

"I'm leaving."

"What? Already? You just got here." Rory pouted and pulled Jess in closer, her arms looped around his waist.

"Not here, Yale. Here as in Connecticut."

"Back to work then?"

"Not my choice."

"Then don't go…"

"Tempting. But I have to…responsibilities." He faked a shudder.

"I'm not sure if I like this responsible Jess." She started playing with the collar of his shirt.

"Well, you'll just have to get used to it."

"When are you coming back?"

Jess didn't answer.

"Are you coming back?" Rory's face went white, Jess smirked. "Jerk." She glared at him.

"I should be back in a week or so…if the guys at Truncheon allow it."

"You better make them allow it."

"I'll try." Rory glared at him again. "See you in a week then?"

"Good boy."

"Why do I have a feeling I'm being treated like a pet."

"'Cause you are."

"I don't know how I feel about that."

Rory smiled. "Get lost, boy." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him sweetly.

"Now I don't want to go."

"It's just a week."

"I know."

"I'm not going to join the circus or anything while you're gone."

"I know that." Jess still had a sad look in his eyes.

Rory suddenly grinned. "You're going to miss me."

"Leaving now." He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.


End file.
